Downpatrick firm leads the way with £800,000 low carbon facility

May 13, 2008

Downpatrick company Vivomed is building a new environmentally friendly facility as part of a £800,000 investment, supported by Invest Northern Ireland, that will help the firm to take advantage of growing demand for its products in export markets.

Vivomed is a leading supplier of first aid kits, physiotherapy equipment, sports medicine, and pharmaceuticals, primarily to professional and amateur sports teams in the UK and RoI markets, with sales facilitated via four e-commerce websites.

The £800,000 investment is supporting the construction of a 9,000 sq ft premises at Invest NI’s Killough Road Industrial Estate, the implementation of a new export marketing plan, and will also help to increase levels of new product development. Invest NI has offered £180,000 of support towards the investment.

The new building has been designed with a low carbon, energy efficient strategy. Vivomed worked with the Carbon Trust to incorporate solar panels, a wind turbine and a wood chip boiler into the unique building design. In recognition of this, it will be the first business premises in NI to be awarded an Energy Performance Certificate – a requirement that will become law later this year.

Colin Lewis, Managing Director of Corporate Services at Invest NI says: “Vivomed realised that investing in a new facility would be essential if it was to place itself in a strong position to take advantage of growing export opportunities.

“With its low carbon building design, Vivomed has demonstrated that local firms can maximise commercial opportunities and accelerate growth without compromising on environmental responsibilities.”

Ronnie Lennon of Vivomed says: “Moving to new premises will give us the opportunity to exploit our pharmaceutical manufacturing licence as we have been restricted at our current site. The investment will enable us to take on two more staff and we are anticipating a 70 per cent increase in sales over the next three years.

“Most of this additional business will be in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland but we are confident that we can secure sales in Europe and further afield as we increasingly focus on the development of new, market leading first aid and physiotherapy products.”